U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that the leaders of Russia and Ukraine have agreed to his request for a three-day ceasefire and an exchange of prisoners, adding that such a halt to hostilities could possibly be the “starting of the tip” of the long war between them.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov each confirmed the agreement.
Trump announced on social media that the ceasefire would run Saturday through Monday. Saturday is Victory Day in Russia, a vacation that commemorates victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.
“I’m pleased to announce that there will probably be a THREE DAY CEASEFIRE (May ninth, tenth, and eleventh) within the War between Russia and Ukraine,” Trump wrote. “The Celebration in Russia is for Victory Day but, likewise, in Ukraine, because they were also an enormous part and factor of World War II.”
The Republican president said the ceasefire features a suspension of all kinetic activity and the exchange of 1,000 prisoners by each country.
Russia had announced a ceasefire for Friday and Saturday, nevertheless it quickly unraveled, with each side blaming the opposite for the continued fighting, just as they’d when Ukraine’s own unilateral ceasefire had swiftly collapsed earlier within the week.
Trump said he made his request for the ceasefire “directly” to the 2 presidents. “Hopefully, it’s the start of the tip of a really long, deadly, and hard fought War,” he said.
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Trump added that talks proceed over ending the war that began in February 2022 “and we’re getting closer and closer every single day.”
Trump has gone forwards and backwards over whether the war will end, at times expressing optimism and at other times saying Russia and Ukraine ought to be left to fight it out to the bitter end.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s decision on tips on how to engage with those discussions was shaped partially by the prospect of freeing its prisoners. Ukraine has made the return of prisoners of war a central demand throughout the conflict.
“Red Square matters less to us than the lives of Ukrainian prisoners of war who could be brought home,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram. Red Square is where Russia holds its traditional military parade to have a good time Victory Day, one in every of the most important holidays of the yr.
After releasing his statement, Zelenskyy issued a proper presidential decree “authorizing” Russia to carry the parade, declaring Red Square off-limits for Ukrainian strikes at some point of the event. The framing of the decree appeared designed to underscore Kyiv’s claim that it holds effective targeting reach over the Russian capital, while publicly tying Ukrainian restraint to the ceasefire terms.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later shrugged off Zelenskyy’s decree as a “silly joke.”
“We don’t need anyone’s permission to be happy with our Victory Day,” Peskov told reporters.
Zelenskyy said the deal for a ceasefire was reached through a U.S.-mediated process and thanked Trump and the American team for what he called effective diplomatic engagement. He said Ukraine expected Washington to carry Russia to the terms of the agreement.
“We’re counting on america to be sure that Russia fulfills its commitments,” Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy said he had instructed his team to organize all the pieces needed for the exchange immediately.
Trump’s announcement got here hours after Secretary of State Marco Rubio struck a way more somber tone about negotiations to halt Russia’s 4-year-old war in Ukraine, saying U.S. mediation efforts haven’t led to a “fruitful consequence” up to now.
“While we’re prepared to play whatever role we will to bring it to a peaceful diplomatic resolution, unfortunately right away, those efforts have stagnated,” Rubio told reporters at the tip of a visit to Rome and the Vatican. “But we all the time stand ready if those circumstances change.”
Associated Press writers Hanna Arhirova in Kyiv and Giada Zampano in Rome contributed to this report.
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